Into the Flames: Revised
by black-venom-heart
Summary: Selene of Renvyle is a young fire mage who starts her training as a Lady Knight of Tortall. Befriended by the King's son, Daine's dragon Kitten and Alanna's youngest son, are they powerful enough to save Tortall from a dark force...?
1. Beginning of A New Life

The air hung hot and humid over the city of Corus. Storm clouds were beginning to blow in from the far off sea. Still, it did not bother nor concern the citizens. There was peace in the land, finally, and without any threats from Scanra, no one was particularly concerned with thoughts of war. Overall, it was a peaceful day for the citizens of Corus. However, it was not a peaceful day for King Jonathon of Conte.

"It is in my humble opinion sir, that this will carry unforeseeable consequences, bringing with it droves of criticism to your decision, not to mention the poor child who will be unable to withstand the taunts that she will most likely to receive, if of course you wish to proceed with this." Lord Padraig haMinch, the newly appointed Training Master for pages and squires of the realm, taped the open letter with its broken seal that lay on the small table between him and the King. The discussion had been going on for a better part of the afternoon with both parties arguing the same lines over and over again. It hadn't come to the point where haMinch instigated an argument. You simply did not start arguing with the King. Lord haMinch was almost exasperated to the point where it was decided that if the King gave no clear answer soon enough, than Padraig would gladly have his spleen eaten from his living, breathing body by a hurrock.

A small smile tugged at the edges of Jonathon's mouth, although the motion was somewhat lost under his black beard. "You do know that your predecessor said almost the exact same in trying to deter me from accepting Baron Pier's daughter when she wanted to try for her knighthood?" Glimmers of mischievous amusement danced in his blue eyes. "And now look: Lady Knight Keladry has done more service to this realm than anyone had ever perceived possible. It would be a terrible loss to suffer if something were to ever happen to her and I cannot bring myself to regret the decision of admitting her into training as a knight. Many people were skeptical of her ability but she pulled through. So has Alanna the Lioness all while under the guise of a man. You cannot doubt a person's ability by their condition of gender. And what of my wife Thayet? " Lord haMinch opened his mouth to interrupt but Jonathon kept going. "Would you honestly doubt her perseverance or strength? She has the skill to lead as well as to fight. And the Queen's Riders are testament that it does not take a noble upbringing to show the determination and might that women are capable of."

"My lord, with all due respect, you speak of accomplished women and I cannot doubt in any way the ability of your wife or Champion. However this girl, Selene of Renvyle, doesn't come from a family of ambassadors, nor from a family who has sent off any daughters for a warrior's life. And besides there is the question of her special Gift: she's unstable at best, considering her upbringing. And you have told me that Numair specifically said that he himself does not know the extent of her powers."

With a wave of his hand, the King cut off his new Training Master in mid-sentence.

"Lord HaMinch, why not have some more wine. It's indeed delicious. My very own Champion Alanna brought it from one of the Bazhir tribes from her last visit." Lord haMinch couldn't very well resist a royal invitation and watched the King pour a generous amount into a waiting goblet. "And to your earlier comment, well it doesn't matter what her family has done in the past. Nor their reputation. Many notable knights have exceeded their family's expectations." He sighed heavily. "As to Selene's Gift: currently, her powers are kept in check. The letter said so. But I cannot know what will happen in the future and neither can you so this is hardly a matter worth discussing."

Lord haMinch sighed and sat back in his chair. The two men were sitting on the veranda just outside the King's study, overlooking the Royal Forest. Not a breeze stirred in the still air of the summer afternoon. It was a mild day, considering the hot and obtrusive weather they had experienced during the recent months. The clouds over head had darkened considerably and thunder rolled in the tumultuous rainclouds in the distance. Padraig glanced at the King who was re-reading the letter that had been sent by the girl's family. Sure, they had received a total of six letters from families who had wished to send their daughters into service as a knight. Two had declined immediately after sending off the letters, three of the girls had left after a week and the last one had not even lasted through the first day. There was nothing particularly interesting that set this girl apart from all the other girls. The path to knighthood and indeed many times the occupation and responsibility of a knight was not an easy way of life.

"Your Highness," Lord haMinch responded in a more patient, rational voice. "This girl Selene has spent a year in the convent in training as a court lady. She has little to no practical training in any fighting arts and we don't even know if her character would withstand the grueling discipline needed."

"In my understanding, being a lady requires more cunning and discipline than many people give them credit for, as my dear Thayet so tells me." King Jonathon joked, although the Training Master was not able to tell. "What if we come to a compromise?"

"I'm listening," replied Lord HaMinch.

"You will allow the girl to come for training, under the previous conditions set by Lord Wyldon: she will be on probation for a year, only to be released if you deem it plausible that she can keep pace with the other boys. Also," the King's voice turned stern and his mood suddenly became serious. "Although much is expected of her, I will not allow you to treat her with disrespect or contempt, or continually single her out because you feel as if you can. You will not over-step your boundaries."

Lord haMinch's mouth was set in a tight line. "I completely understand your Highness. I will carry out my duties with the upmost reverence for my station."

"Excellent!" The King stood suddenly and Lord haMinch practically jumped out of his chair to follow. "Please do remember Padraig, that you are still essentially being judged on your performance, since you've only been with us a short while. Think of it as a temporary probation." Jonathon clapped the Training Master good-naturedly on his shoulder and strode off the veranda into his study. Lord haMinch remained on the veranda, slightly irritated by the turn of events.

* * *

The sudden jerking of the carriage slammed Selene's head into the side, waking her up from her boredom induced slumber. She looked around, orange eyes still sleepy, and they landed on her uncle. He gave a loud snort and continued his sleep. Selene sighed and turned her tired gaze out the tiny opening in the carriage that barely classified as a window. The sight did nothing to improve her already dark mood. It was raining; even more so since they had left the convent on their way to the palace. This journey was important to her, the start of a new life, and yet it already yielded nothing but a wet cold beginning. Boredom, too, was dragging her down as well, as it was too dark to read or write in the carriage and her uncle seemed intent as catching as much sleep as possible.

Still, she should be thankful that someone from her family was generous enough to accompany her on this trip, or rather her family only sent someone so they could keep on eye and make sure she didn't get into any trouble. Especially after the incident at the convent; her family would be through with her if she were to repeat the disaster that she had caused there.

Sighing, she fingered the warm silver bracelets on her wrists, tiny engraved symbols running the circumference. She had no idea what they meant but she had been wearing them since she was five years old. They were there to keep her Gift in check, to make sure her powers never got out of control.

"_This is for your safety and for other's safety as well," _Numair had said to her when he fashioned them especially from the purest silver. _"You must wear them at all times. Until we know how your Gift really works, this is the best way to ensure you do not over use your powers and they don't consume you"_

Even with her bracelets, things had gotten out of hand at the convent. Of course, she thought, the added burden of her strange Gift and her power limiters were two more things that totally set her apart from every normal noble in Tortall.

Her mother thought it would have been for the best when she sent Selene to the convent. The convent was an easy enough place, learn to be a perfect lady and you could be married off to a wealthy, well-off noble husband and live out your life as a perfect little housewife. Selene thought that her mother's imagined life for her reduced her to nothing more than a doll, someone who had to be dressed by no less then four maids, someone who had to be accompanied everywhere she went and someone who was empty-headed and only lived for the material objects around her. This was not the life Selene had imagined for herself.

**Thud!**

Another pothole jerked the carriage to the side and for the up tenth time that day. Selene hit her head on the side of the carriage. Her uncle was thrown from his seat and landed on the floorboards of the carriage.

"What in the name of Mithros was that?" he exclaimed. His usually neat brown hair was disarrayed and his immediate concern, like always, was to check that his clothes were in perfect order, which they were. It would take more than a simple fall to rumple the clothes of Llyon of Renvyle, her mother's brother-in-law.

"Another pothole, Uncle, you've slept through the last hundred we've trekked through." His niece answered in her normal sarcastic voice.

"No need for smart remarks." Of course everything she said was considered a smart remark or something equally stupid. "Now a lady must remember to be docile and…"

Selene closed her eyes as another one of her uncle's lectures went through her ear and out the other.

"Selene! Listen to me! Don't you dare-" the rest of his words were cut off as the carriage drew to a sudden halt. From outside came the sounds of numerous horses riding up and the sound of harshly, laughing men. Steel swords could be heard being drawn from scabbards and a second louder they collided with something thick and squelchy, the flesh of the carriage guards.

"The Gypsy Bandits," whispered her uncle, who instantly paled, and hurriedly began praying. The Gypsy Bandits were plaguing the major highways leading to the capital city, mocking the king saying that he couldn't even protect his people on the outskirts of his own city. Selene rolled her eyes. Gypsy Bandits, she thought, these were going to be easy to get rid of. She couldn't bear wasting any more time in the presence of her uncle than was necessary.

The door of the carriage was ripped open, almost off its hinges and the darkened light of the rainy skies entered the carriage. Rough hands reached inside and grabbed Selene and her uncle, dragging them out into the torrential downpour. The driver and the guard who both had been escorting them to the capital laid dead alongside the carriage, hideous slashes on their bodies that marked a brutal death.

_Damn it all_, she thought. _I hope the rain won't affect my powers_. Not only that, but Selene hated being out in the rain.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got ourselves here," A large, scarred man stood in front of Selene and looked her over with lustful eyes. "A cute little girlie, all prettie and pure. Heahea not for long, gents." The rest of the bandit group gave boorish, cruel laughs. The Gypsy Bandits were dressed in tanned leather breeches and coarsely woven tunics. Many of them had added bandanas, scarves or sashes of varying material to embellish their otherwise plain clothing. A few of them carried swords, stolen most likely as only nobles or the Tortallan guard were allowed to carry swords. There were a scattering of axes, maces and clubs among the bandits, although Selene and her uncle didn't doubt for a second that any of the weapons were less deadly than a sword.

_This is ridiculous_, Selene thought. _What do I look like to them? A harem slave up for auction?_ She closed her orange eyes and called to her Gift, her silver bracelets giving off a soft glow.

"Hey, what the bloody hell you think you doin'?" The large bandit grabbed her by the front of her cloak and dragged her up. "Wha'ever you doin' you better be stopping' tha'."

Selene's eyes snapped open and she thrust her hands forward into the man's face as bright orange fire erupted from her hands. The bandit dropped her onto the muddy ground as the fire spread over his body. He screamed and wailed like a crazed animal and within seconds was reduced to nothing but a charred carcass. The other bandits stared at her.

"Well then, who's next, you dirty bastards?" Selene challenged the men.

"Why you little bitch!" Two other men rushed forward, stolen swords in hands. Selene step sided them and spread a line of fire at one the men, entering him through the back and erupting from chest. He stopped suddenly as the magic fire burned his insides. Selene knew this was a particularly painful way to die. The man fell into the mud as he too screamed like a wounded animal as the fire slowly burned away at all his organs. Selene threw a small bolt of fire at the second bandit. It caught on his cloak and then exploded, sending bloody bits of human debris everywhere.

The remaining bandits looked on with horror and ran back to their horses.

"This won't be the last time we meet," shouted one of the bandits. "We'll make you pay you evil wretch! Mithros curse you!" With that they rode back from where they came, the rain hiding them from sight and masking the sound of their retreat.

Selene looked down at her mud-soaked and blood spotted dress. Such a pity that her dress was dirtied beyond repair as it had been her favorite one. Her uncle shook his head.

"I don't know if your Gift is a blessing or a curse, but it scares me that a twelve year can do that. You're dangerous!"

Selene flashed her uncle a small dangerous smirk. "Don't worry, uncle, I'm only a danger if you cross me."

**Yay! Chapter 1 is revised! I wanted to introduce and characterize the Training Master sooner than I did in my original (and I got his name right!). I included the conversation between Jonathon and haMinch that I wanted to put in before but didn't know how to write.**


	2. Friendship and Bullies

**Since this is Fanfiction I took some liberties and decided that Alanna would have another son named Leo and King Jonathan would have another son named Robyn. Both are the same age**** and the youngest in their families.**

**Human Era, year 463 – August**

Scrutinizing brown eyes matched the girls orange ones as Lord Padraig haMinch surveyed the small, black-haired girl before him. She was twelve from what her file said, but to him she looked more like nine. Her small face looked ethereal, with delicate pixie like features and pale skin that was the expected complexion of a lady. Her strange orange eyes were big, adding to her pixie looks. They were sorrowful, angry and resentful.

_Just __why is she here?_ thought Lord haMinch. _First she spends a year in the convent to become a lady then gets sent away_. Not precisely sent away, but rather kicked out. There had been an undisclosed incident involving the whole convent. That was what her file read, but no explanation as to why she was kicked out. Whatever the reason, the girl did not like a future knight to him. In fact, she could pass as one of the small serving girls that past emperors of Carthak used to serve drinks in their courts.

"Becoming a knight will be hard," Lord haMinch started his speech he gave to all first year pages. "You will be tested mentally, physically and emotionally. If you survive the eight years of training, you will earn your shield and the rewards will be numerous. Knights do not have days off and neither will you. Your training will consist of bookwork and related studies in the mornings while afternoons are dedicated to the learning and mastery of swordsmanship, riding, archery, jousting and anything else that a knight is expected to be proficient in."

Lord haMinch waited for some response from Selene but she gave none. The training master went on.

"As a girl page, you will be treated the same as any of the boys; no special treatment or favors because of your sex."

"I expected as much." Selene interrupted.

"Good, then I hope it won't surprise you that you will be put on probation during the first year. This means I can expel you at any time if I see you lacking in your duties."

"Also no flirting with boys or any provocative behavior. For this I can also expel you. If you enter a boy's room the door must be kept open and the same applies if a boy enters your room. Any questions?" The tone of his voice made it very clear he wanted no questions, but Selene couldn't resist.

"Since I will be treated the same as the other boys do you insist I bathe with them well? Or will bathing separately be considered 'special treatment'?"

Selene's uncle turned red and started muttering an apology for his niece's impertinence.

"Careful page, you are on probation. Such remarks will reflect poorly on you. As for your answer you will bathe separately in the women's baths or in your own room. Any other questions will be answered by the head of housekeeping or by older pages and squires. I look forward to seeing you on the practice field."

She was then promptly dismissed. Selene and her uncle stood awkwardly outside haMinch's office, neither of them knowing how to say good-bye to each other. Neither one of them had much love for the other and it was in Selene's nature not to linger on sentimental feelings, never mind waste her time on someone for whom she had no respect. In the end, she muttered a hurried "Good-bye," and followed a servant who waited to show her to her room. Her uncle was soon forgotten.

Selene stepped into her new room as a page and immediately took a strong liking to it. It had a bay window overlooking the city and the surrounding countryside. She sighed and dropped her bundle of new page clothing on her bed and sat down next to it. All her belongings had been brought up already but she wasn't much in the mood to unpack. A sudden image of her dormitory back at the convent came to her mind. No, she couldn't return there. Not after what she had done. Selene vowed she would not make the same mistake. If she failed as a page, she had nowhere else to go.

She thought of the advice her uncle had given her, during the few times they had attempted to talk in the carriage.

"_Although it's legal for women to become knights and Lady Kel has publicly earned her shield, people will still be skeptical of you and the other boys will try to deter you from your path. Remember you change your mind you can come home."_

It was still raining outside, although it had slowed to a steady drizzle and showed no signs of stopping. Her room was chilly, but yet she was not cold. A perk of her Gift she supposed. Selene was a fire mage and a powerful one at that. A little too powerful for someone so young, that's why her family and Numair thought it would be wise for her to wear the power limiters. But her Gift had it uses. She could control fire like no other. Her eyes too, were another side effect of her Gift. Her orange eyes were beautiful, but an oddity.

She set her gaze on the empty fireplace, concentrated and a warm, bright fire burst to life. She went to stand before it, draping her cloak on a stool.

"Hello?" a timid voice came from her doorway.

Selene turned her head to see two boys, one with wild red hair and purple eyes and the other with dark black hair and blue eyes, standing on her threshold, looking on with huge surprised eyes.

"What? You've never seen a girl before?" she retorted. She was barely here for a half a day and already people were intruding on her!

The red-headed boy hurriedly replied. "No, well yes, we have but not a girl page, wait you didn't ask that. We have seen-"

The black haired boy with laughing blue eyes cut his friend off. "We heard rumors that there was a girl page here. I guess the rumors are true."

"Yes they are. I'm here to stay by the way. So if you have any intention of running me off, you should know nothing will stop me."

"Nobody is going to stop you!" exclaimed the red head. "Well, not us in any case." He glanced at his friend. "Robyn might drive you off just by being a jerk sometimes but he really isn't all that bad."

"Oh shut it Leonard." Robyn retorted. "He hates his full name. My dear friend here, on the other hand, might get on your nerves a little too often and soon enough you might start thinking of putting a bag on his head, or suffocating him with the nearest pillow."

"Robyn!" pouted the red-haired boy named Leonard. "Now that was mean!"

Selene looked on in wonder and confused. She had never had a close friend with whom she tease and insult like these pair were going at each other. She also wondered if Robyn was the one that she might feel like suffocating with a pillow.

"You really don't have to call me Leonard. I'd much prefer it if you would call me Leo." Leo looked so shy and innocent that even Selene could not resist his request.

"Very well…Leo. I'm pleased to meet you. I am Selene of Renvyle."

"Titles, titles, titles," Robyn sighed. "They mean so little and so much."

Leo tugged at Robyn's tunic and gave him a side-ways glare. "I think we should properly introduce ourselves."

"Well-spoken!" Robyn grinned broadly. "I'm Robyn of Conté, last in line to the throne of Tortall."

Selene gasped and curtsied. She couldn't believe Prince Robyn was standing in her room introducing himself so casually to her! She quickly sunk into a deep curtsy. "It's a pleasure to meet you your Highness." It felt so stupid to curtsy while in her tunic and leggings.

"You don't have to do that," he grinned. "Please, I get enough of that from my father's nobles. It's like there people falling down everywhere when I walk past."

Selene was still thinking about the fact that King Jonathan's own son was in her room, and she couldn't help but notice the obvious arrogance in his voice.

"If you insist then…" She straightened up.

"Oh and this red-haired thing here is Leo of Pirate's Swoop. No need to guess who his mother is huh?"

"Alanna is your mother?" Selene asked Leo in shock.

"Yes she is." He answered with a hint of pride. "She's extremely proud that I'm here to train as a knight, since Thom was the oldest and he wanted to study magic and she thought that only Alan would earn his shield. And then she was disappointed when Aly never showed interest in becoming a knight although now my mother keeps bragging to everyone she knows that her daughter led a revolution in the Copper Islands and helped restore the rightful queen to the throne!"

"So you have a lot to live up to then?" Selene asked, not without a trace of teasing. Leo was too cute, something that she would never admit aloud. She could never imagine him as a sword-wielding, horse-riding knight.

"I guess so," Leo sighed. "But it's alright. My family has done so much for the Realm already-"

Robyn cut off his friend impatiently. "Leo loves telling family history and I can promise you that by the end of the month you can write a full report on each and every family member and their achievements." This brought a small grin to Selene's face. "Would you like to see the palace Selene? I can give you a tour. I'll even bring along Leo." Leo's purple eyes brightened.

Selene hesitated. What if these boys were leading her on, teasing her, befriending her only to abandon her later. She couldn't help the way she was thinking. Her whole life she had been treated like that. Except now there was no one to turn to. She was on her own and she would deal with anyone that came in her way.

"Alright, show me the best the king has to offer."

Robyn and Leo happily guided Selene through the extent of the Royal Palace. They showed her the long, golden-gilded hall of tapestries depicting all types of scenes. One tapestry was of a hunting party chasing a boar, another of a lady with a unicorn in her lap and a rather large one with Mithros, the High God of justice, commanding his army. Selene stared at this for a few long seconds, trying to decipher the slight grin on the god's face. There were more wondrous tapestries woven of the fine cloths still to see but the two boys drew Selene into another passage. Selene had felt as if she could have entertained many an hour in that fantastic corridor.

They ran down a hallway with great, soaring windows on either side giving the impression of being on a glass-encased bridge. Today however, the grim storm clouds let in feeble light and the rain was pounding relentlessly on the window panes, promising a wet practice field tomorrow. The convent where Selene had spent a year was fine and decorated enough, but she could not have enough time here to wonder and ponder at every spectacle in the palace, for there were many.

Robyn led them into the lower part of the castle, where the kitchens were located. They approached a broad wooden door, where the clamoring of pots and the general busy bustling of the kitchens could be heard. Robyn held a finger to his lips and ducked into the room. Moments later he returned with three small meat buns and motioned for them to run.

They didn't stop until they were back in the grand upper levels of the palace where Leo started freaking out, wondering if they were going to get caught. Robyn threw a careless arm around the smaller boy's shoulders and told him not to worry. The young prince then opened a set of elegantly decorated doors and they trooped in, the doors sounding shut behind them. Selene found they had entered the library, as she saw rows upon rows of large bookcases taking up most of the spacious library. A few ladders led to upper levels of the library, and Selene just how many books were here in this grand room. A vast marble fireplace was situated against the far right wall with a cozy fire burning merrily in the hearth. Worn but comfy looking armchairs and small sofas were in front of the fireplace, providing the sitter warmth and light.

Heavy wooden tables and chairs were placed around the room and in between rows of books, most likely used for knights-in-training to study on. Robyn threw himself onto a sofa and began attacking his meat bun. The vigor he showed made it apparent that he very much enjoyed those buns. Leo curled up into an armchair and ate his stolen food with much less energy. Selene chose to sit directly in front of the fire, needing to feel it's comforting heat.

Her glittering silver wristbands were illuminated by the flickering light and Leo noticed the silvery sheen dancing on Selene's arms.

"Hey Selene what are those?" Leo asked inquisitively.

"These?" Selene lifted one arm. "These are my power limiters. Because of my Gift, Numair thought it would be best for me to wear them, since no one knows the extent of my power."

"Really? Are you that strong?" Leo's purple eyes were wide in excitement.

"What kind of Gift do you have anyway?" Robyn asked, now licking his fingers from the meat bun.

"I'm a fire mage."

"A fire mage?" Robyn inquired.

Selene shook her head. "Apparently my Gift is so rare there's only been a few cases in the past and there's not much information on it. Are you Gifted by any chance?" Selene knew that the King was incredibly strong and both of Leo's parents had magic as well.

"I have the general Gift," Robyn was first to explain. "You know shielding, fighting magic and basic illusions. I'm still working on mastering more powerful spells although I know that's going to be a long way off."

"I have more of a Sensing Gift." Leo answered in an eager voice. "I can sense magical presences. My Gift isn't used for fighting, more for healing and defense."

"Well that's useful too I suppose." Selene said, unsure of anything else to say.

"And you?" Leo asked.

"I can control and manipulate fire. I'm also resistant to burns and I have easier time breathing when it's smoky. A huge perk of it is that I'm always warm and I've never once felt cold in my life."

"So lucky," Leo looked downcast at his shoes.

Robyn seemed fascinated with her strange power and was itching to learn more. "You can manipulate fire? Like a battle mage?"

"Can battle mages do this?" Selene cupped her hands together and called her Gift. When she unfolded her hands, a small ball of fire was hovering above her palms. She softly blew on the fire and it dissolved into several little flames, each taking form as a miniature sailing ship. The fire ships took flight around the room, sailing lazily in the air and leaving a small trail of flames that evaporated after a few seconds. Leo gasped in astonishment and reached out to touch one of the ships and delighted in the fact that it was warm but did not burn his skin. Robyn too, was impressed and Selene allowed herself a small grin of achievement.

"See Robyn, aren't you jealous now that you can't do that?" Leo asked slyly.

Robyn flushed. "I'm an alright mage but I don't think you could do that either!"

"I could too! Selene could teach me, right?" Leo came and hugged her arm. Selene pushed him away and she realized she had hurt Leo by the look in his purple eyes. She was unused to such contact and the way Leo looked at her was heart-breaking.

"I'm sorry," She said. "You remind me of a puppy dog." If Leo had had a tail right then, it probably would have stopped wagging. Robyn laughed at Selene's animal reference to his dear friend, as he sometimes had to agree with her.

"So what is going on in here?" a drawling voice came from the library doors.

"Three small pages, three more servings of Fresh meat," said another boy, bringing laughter from the others with him. A group of older boys had entered the library, possibly squires, and Selene knew this would not end well.

"Why are you lazing about here? Shouldn't you be scrubbing our chamber pots?" This came from the first boy, obviously the leader of the group, and his friends laughed at his words.

"Shouldn't you be with your mommies? It's past your curfew isn't it?" Selene snapped back. Her temper had risen, as well as the fire next to her, for it became agitated when she did.

"Well, well, well," said the first boy. He had brown frizzy hair and the much dreaded acne of adolescence while his crocked nose did nothing to improve his looks. "It seems the rumors are true: A girl page has arrived. But she won't be staying for long." He softly added the last part.

"I'll be staying as long as I want!" Selene now stood up, although she was still short. "You swine!"

"Whoa, you better respect you betters. Do you know who you're talking to?" the boy with the frizzy hair growled.

"No please enlighten me," Selene put as much sarcasm into her words as possible

"I'm Alden of Horganshold," He said proudly.

"Fantastic, now can you actually spell that?" Selene retorted.

The boy next to Alden grumbled and stepped towards her. "No Gordon, I'll take care of this!" Alden said and held his friend back. Selene walked towards Alden until they were only six feet apart. Robyn and Leo looked on, wanting to help the girl, but did not want to incur Alden's bullying and both privately resolved to jump in as soon as Alden made a move.

"I'm going to say this one time and one time only," Selene said defiantly, standing with her legs apart and arms crossed. "I'll say how long I'm going to stay. I'll say who I'll listen to and I'll decide whose snide comments and bullcrap I'm going to put up with. But. It. Won't. Be. You." she said these last words separately. "If you get in my way, I'll burn you to a crisp with the snap of my fingers!"

Gordon, Alden's friend who was slightly flabby for a knight in training and had watery eyes and thin hair, laughed at Selene's comment. "You're bluffing! The only one who has that much power is the sorcerer Numair and that tiny bitch Alanna!" A loud, demented battle cry sprung out of nowhere and a shock of red hair collided with Gordon, sending the large boy onto his back. Leo sat on Gordon and punched him as hard as he could and pulled on Gordon's dark brownhair.

"Don't you dare talk about my mother like that!" Leo was enraged now and Gordon was suddenly fearful of this brave boy with his strange purple eyes. "You can only ever hope to be half the knight she is!"

Gordon became aware of the considerable size advantage he had over Leo and seized the red-haired boy by his shoulders and shoved him into a bookcase. Leo was stunned by the blow and books fell on top of him. Alden took advantage of the chaos and pushed Selene roughly, while she came back with a wild kick.

"Enough!" Robyn stood in front of the group. "If you don't stop now, I will report you to my father."

"Who's your father, a lowly guard?" Alden growled.

"No he's Prince Robyn of Conté," The bullies gasped and fell to one knee bowing down to Robyn. "Yea I didn't know him either but it was a hell of a lot better introduction then this." Selene said.

"Go now and if I see any of you tonight the king will hear of it personally," warned Robyn.

"And if he doesn't I will," The boys turned to Selene. "But of course I'll tell Alanna instead and I might add that you tried to rape me. You better make sure you're well out of the country by then."

With that, the bullies turned and scrambled out the door, Alden pausing to cast a glance at Selene. "You better watch your back, you fire witch."

"You better watch where you're going," Selene grinned as Alden ran into the doorway. He curse and ran out, the library doors closing heavily. Leo sighed loudly.

"I wish I had as much courage as you do Selene," he said wistfully.

"Yes, because running head-on into a bully doesn't require any amount of bravery, just a large amount of stupidity," Selene retorted. Leo blushed and Robyn lay laughing on the floor. She looked up to where the last two of her magical fireships were sailing through the air. It seemed to her that they were her private sentries, her little protectors that only she could procure and control. Selene scoffed at the ridiculous though and turned back to her friends. Leo let out a loud squeal as Robyn had put him into a headlock. The sight was so ridiculous to Selene that she couldn't help herself as she smiled broadly.

**So I condensed chapters and added some more conversation to when the trio first meet. It seems to me that they get off to a better start that way. When I re-read the original conversation I cringed because it was cheesy and…stupid. The run-in with Alden stayed the same. Also I'm trying not to over play the puppy-dog-cute Leo as that's going to get old quick. **


	3. Morning Gossip

The pealing of bells awoke Selene. She stirred groggily from under her covers and was a bit confused at first as to where she was. Then realization came over her and she shoved her head under her pillow. The night had been long as she had been too nervous to sleep. She knew today a lot of the boys would be nasty and vile to her. Most likely they would shout out insults, push her around and during training, who knows what they would do?

Still, lying in bed and whining about it wouldn't help her reputation. She flung the covers off and swung her feet over the edge of the bed to rest on the threadbare carpet. Just one week ago she had woken up to the voices of the matrons in charge of the dorms in the convent. Selene couldn't stop the rush of memories that came to her again.

_She stood in the middle of the dormitory as smoke and flames engulfed everything around her. Overhead, the fire was slowing eating away at the support beams for the roof. Why couldn't she stop the fire? Why did she still hear screams when there was no one left besides her? Wait, there was someone behind her…_

Shuddering violently, Selene jumped up and ran to the washbasin. She looked in mirror. Her looks hadn't changed overnight. Nor had they changed in the past week. She had to admit, she looked nothing like a future knight, not even a simple page. Selene had her mother's heart-shaped face with a delicate chin and high cheekbones. Her nose was slender and was in perfect symmetry with her face. Wide orange eyes were framed by black eyelashes. She had cut her ink black hair into bangs that swept across her forehead and were parted off center. Selene had decided, out of vanity, that she would keep her hair long, past her shoulders and keep it tied in a braid. She would have felt almost naked without it.

Selene pulled on her scarlet and gold tunic along with comfortable leather shoes. Once again she looked in the mirror. Seeing herself in the fine clothes with the royal colors filled her with a sense of pride. Yes, she was confident this was her place.

Selene was shocked to see the page hallway outside milling about with boys. There were a few older squires mixed into the lot, marked by the colored tunics of their knight masters that set them apart from the scarlet and gold of the pages. As soon as Selene closed the door behind her, all eyes turned to her and all conversation ceased. After a silent moment pause, whispers flew from the boys' mouths.

"Who's that?"

"I didn't know we had a girl page this year!"

"She doesn't look like much."

"…won't last a week."

"She's so tiny!"

There were also a few laughs mixed into the quiet gossip. Even if she couldn't make out the details, she knew jokes were being made at her expense. Selene saw Alden and his band of cronies standing amongst the boys. Alden shot her a wicked grin and turned to murmur something to Gordon. Selene grimaced and clutched her hands at her sides, trying hard to keep her rage under control.

So what if she was a girl? So what if she was small for her age? Alanna was a female and she had been just as slight and slender as Selene was. Besides, it wasn't as if she had chosen her gender at birth or if she had had that opportunity she would have thought to become a boy. Selene kept her orange eyes peeled to the floor so that the boys wouldn't have move to tease her about. She edged along the wall outside her door to where Robyn and Leo stood, unfazed by the on-goings.

"Looks like you're going to be popular here." Robyn joked in a quiet voice. "Everyone is talking about you already."

"I'd rather that they didn't." Selene said in a stolid, expressionless voice.

"Well it makes sense," Leo interjected. "Nobody knew you were coming. Robyn and I were lucky enough hear the servants talking about you after one of them showed you to your room. Otherwise we would have been just as surprised as everyone else." His purple eyes were wide with wonder. Selene guessed he was still surprised by her decision to train as knight.

"I guess they really lowered the standards this year," an older page said in a drawling voice. "Looks like they'll accept just about any shrimp that considers themselves noble." This brought barely suppressed laughter from the gathered boys. The boy who said this was tall, slim and had dark brown hair, eyes and skin. It was obvious from his complexion that he came from one of the Bazhir tribes in the Southern Desert. He stood leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed causally over his chest.

Selene was sure the insult wasn't just intended for her, but to Leo and Robyn as well, judging by the slight nod he had thrown their way as he said it. She felt her temper rise, unable to control it. The bracelets on her wrists grew warm along with the quickening pace of her heart.

"At least I can claim that I'm noble!" Selene snapped back without a second thought. "You're just a Bazhir tribe boy from the desert!" It was all she could do to control herself not to spit at his feet. There were a few giggles that were immediately stifled and the whole hallway filled with apprehension. Alden and his friends leaned forward ever so slightly, looking eager for a fight to unfold.

"Excuse me?" The Bazhir boy stood upright and clenched his hands at his sides. Selene hadn't merely insulted _him_. No, she had insulted his lineage, his family and all but debunked his position as an elder. She had all but stated aloud that she was his superior.

"What is this racket?" Lord HaMinch came striding down the hallway. "First day of training and you're mucking about as if there's nothing more important to do." The tension evaporated in the hallway and the boys gave hurried looks to each other and assembled into some form of organization. HaMinch turned his attention to Robyn, Leo and Selene who stood huddled together. "First year pages will now line up so that sponsors will be chosen." Two other pages came to stand in line with the trio. One was a cheery looking boy with messy blonde hair and a smattering of freckles across his face. The other boy had dark brown curls and cast his eyes down as he came to stand next to Selene. This boy was almost as small as she was! Well almost. She felt somewhat relieved that pages weren't supposed to be huge.

"Sponsors are older boys who will show you around and teach you the way of the palace so that hopefully you won't end up places you shouldn't be." HaMinch explained. "We will start with His Royal Highness, Robyn of Conté." Immediately hands shot up and there were a chorus of "Pick me!" from the elder boys. Obviously as prince, there was going to be some competition as to who was going to sponsor him.

"Very well then, Matheo of Nond, you will are assigned to the Prince." A tall blonde boy detached himself from the others and came over to shake Robyn's hand enthusiastically. He bore a striking resemblance to the blonde first year page who shot him a quick grin. Next up was Leo. As Alanna's son, there was a mad scramble to sponsor him as well. The honor went to a burgundy haired third year page named Gabriel of Meron. The blonde with the freckles was introduced as Liam of Nond who was indeed the younger brother of Matheo. His sponsor was Kartikeya of the Az'bazem Hurod Tribe, another Bazhir boy who looked much friendlier than the boy who had taunted Selene earlier.

The small curly haired boy next to Selene was Dorian of Glenlith. As his name was called, more whispers abounded throughout the ranks.

Glenlith was an infamous name. Vinson of Glenlith had raped and assaulted women during his page and squire years, during which Lady Kel was also training. Only a few years ago, Vinson had failed his Ordeal of Knighthood because he shouted out, when the Chamber of the Ordeal made him undergo the pain he put the women through. After he left the chamber he asked for an audience with Duke Turomont of Wellam, the Lord Magistrate, and confessed the assaults and rape of three young women.

The family of Glenlith now lived in shame and Selene didn't envy the position Dorian was in. With a wave of his hand HaMinch silenced the chattering. After a moment's hesitation, a boy stepped forward, Mikhail of Wellam, grandson to Duke Turomont. Selene saw Dorian's eyes flash with surprise, quickly replaced with fear. Mikhail gripped Dorian's hand and shook it firmly. It was clear that Mikhail held no reservations against Dorian himself. Finally, HaMinch called for a sponsor for Selene.

It was the moment that she had dreaded. It was no secret by now that she was not favored among the boys. Where she had expected a dead silence to follow, there was an immediate, "I volunteer!"

Selene looked up in shock. Of course! How could she have been so stupid to forget!

Sven of Renvyle sauntered forward, all smiles and full of his typical, causal arrogance. Selene's older half-brother of two years had been undecided over whether or not he would return for his third year. Unknown to Selene, Sven had decided to stay mainly because of his younger sister for whom he had a soft spot. Neither of them would admit to the fondness they had for each other but none the less they had come to settle in a relationship that worked for them both, without showing off too much emotion.

"You Sven?" HaMinch asked a little surprised. Sven had talked of his younger half-sister with an almost doting manner although most people assumed he talked of his younger, full-blood sister.

"Yes, I would gladly have the pleasure of sponsoring my sister." Sven grinned, a little out of breath and pushed his heavy blonde hair out of his hazel eyes. Selene mentally rolled her eyes. This was taking the shape of one of the juicy gossip novels that the older girls at the convent liked to read: scandalous and outrageous. Sven and Selene were sure to be the topic of hot debate and discussion later on in the day.

"You're late Renvyle." HaMinch drawled in a cold voice. "You should thank yourself that I am in a forgiving mood today, otherwise you would have not gotten off so lightly." He turned to address the assembled boys. Sven gave Selene a reassuring smile. "Now that all this has been sorted out, you're free to leave for breakfast and I urge you not to be late for your morning classes. Now go!" There was a hustle as the mass in the hallway cleared out towards the dining hall. Sven and Selene chose to stay behind. Leo and Robyn were sadly swept up in the crowd and they cast apologetic looks as they made their way down to breakfast.

Once everyone was out of sight, Sven swept up Selene into a tight hug.

"How I've missed you so!" He exclaimed. Selene returned the hug, with considerably less enthusiasm as Sven had displayed. "I haven't seen you in two years and you've barely frown an inch." He laughed at Selene's scowl. "No don't argument, you know it's true." He put his joking aside for the moment and got straight to the point, a quality which Selene liked about him. "Listen, I may have not been there to see how the whole scene played out but I bet you got some taunts and teasings from the boys. No don't scowl at me again. I know these people and how they think. You can't let them get to you alright? Just whatever you do, try to keep your temper under control and your Gift as well."

"I'm trying!" Selene emphasized trying with air quotes. "It's so hard with all these idiots walking around."

Sven sighed and shook his head. "I know that no one else would have volunteered as your sponsor. I'm sorry that I didn't know you were coming but you gave no advance warning to me. Anyway, we're going to be late and I need to tell you now in person that you may think you're smart, and you are, but you're behind in training already." This concerned Selene as she hadn't put a single toe outside on the training grounds yet. "That year with all the court ladies you spent? Well you haven't worked with any weapons or worked out at all."

"No dawdling about here!" HaMinch yelled at the two siblings. Selene gave him the briefest glance she could muster.

"Don't think I don't know about that!" Selene answered in response to Sven's warning. They set off through the hallways to the mess hall. "It's been bothering me since I left. I need to work on making up on lost time, and you…" She paused and swallowed. The next part was going to be hard. "You need to help me." She finished glumly. How she hated to admit to that. Sven only patted her head in reply and laughed, sensing her sullen attitude.

Here, the duo descended the staircase onto the main level and proceeded down the hall toward the large double doors of the dining hall. Laughter and conversation floated out towards them.

All male voices, Selene noticed. This was going to be interesting. They entered the hall and a few eyes caught the first year pages attempting to move towards the food without drawing any attention. A girl page, however, did not normally escape notice in a male dominated society. A hush fell over the hall as more and more pages and squires noticed her. Then came the whisperings.

Selene walked indifferently over to the buffet and slammed down a plate and cutlery onto her tray. Let them stare, she thought. Let them see the face of the new lady knight.

Sven guided them over to a table where Robyn, Leo and their assigned pages were and sat down. The Selene noticed no one else was eating and the staring was really starting to tick her off. Hadn't they ever seen a girl before? Suddenly, all the boys stood up bowed low. Selene quickly followed suit, just to see the king and the training master enter the dining hall and sit at the raised dais on the other end. King Jonathan smiled, small crinkles appearing at the corners of his laughing blue eyes, and motioned for the pages and squires to sit.

Selene and her brother sat down at the edge of the small group. It was interesting how much her simple presence could influence these boys's sitting arrangements. Sven and all of the sponsors were friends with each other yet they excluded him now that she was there. Robyn and Leo, she was hoping, were her friends yet it seemed the older boys sectioned them off from Selene.

Seeing Selene's glum stare, Robyn took it upon himself to get up, pick up his plate and scoot into the empty space beside Selene. Leo sat at his place next to Gabriel, hesitant and unsure of what to do.

"The company is a bit biased around here isn't it?" He declared loudly enough that another table looked over. Her hand was itching to stab Robyn with her fork, not fatally of course. He was only drawing attention to the fact that no one except her brother wanted to be around her.

"This is not necessary." Selene hissed at Robyn. "You still have a right chance of fitting in!"

"I hate conforming anyway." Robyn shrugged as if this was no big deal and continued eating as if nothing had happened. Ignoring the envious glares of the boys, she exchanged skeptical glances with her brother who sat directly across from her. He too, gave an indifferent shrug and began to eat. The meal was passed with a rather awkward atmosphere as there was little interesting conversation. The bell rang and everyone sprang to their feet.

"Come one," Sven tugged on her sleeve. "Reading and Writing first." They ignored the group containing his friends and Leo and Robyn as he guided upstairs to their classes.

Selene found herself liking the morning classes very much, however boring they were. They were much more interesting than the sewing, knitting and painting sessions she had been forced to sit through. For pages, Writing and Reading was the first class. Selene had spent a lot of time reading and writing in the convent and could write in a neat, pretty script and almost as quickly as a professional clerk.

"Excellent script," the Mithros priest praised her. "Now when you have to write an important missive to the king from the battlefield I'm sure he'll appreciate your time wasted on calligraphy."

Selene scowled again. "Well I'm sure he'll thank me even more if I scribble it like a commoner."

For her back talk she was given two more poems to copy down in her wonderfully praised script that was undoubtedly unappreciated. At least she could write. Some of the other pages were having difficulty deciphering the simplest of poems. Next was mathematics, something that she was fairly good at, but nothing she excelled in. At the convent, she had been taught the basic rudiments but nothing too complicated as a lady was not expected to know any of this Algebra that the priests were attempting to teach the class.

Afterwards came etiquette class, where she spent an hour and a half learning how to bow and address the different ranks of nobles.

_This is so ridiculous,_ she thought. _Nobles spend so much time on dignity and etiquette it's no small wonder they never get anything done! _She thought she had been done with etiquette class when she had waved good-bye to the convent.

They had a small break that was marked by another bell and they sat in the seat of a window overlooking the Royal Forest. Robyn was fully awake now, having been rapped on the head again by a priest in Writing and Reading. Robyn swore that priest was out to get him but Selene told him to suck it up and stop falling asleep in class. Leo sported red knuckles from where another priest had struck him for knocking over a pot of ink. To them, it seemed like the Mithros priests found no other joy in life then to punish pages. Another bell rang and those pages with the Gift went to their mage class, while the others went to the class taught by the Basilisk. Sven wished her good luck in class as he went with the other non-gifted.

Selene worried as to where she was to go. She couldn't use her Gift with normal spells as the other Gifted mages could. But neither was she untalented. Her question was answered when she saw Lord HaMinch standing in front of the doorway, watching the Gifted pages and squires file in.

"There you are," he said as she approached. "Because of your unusual talents, we've had to hire a special teacher for you."

"I thought I was to receive no special treatment, my Lord."

"Your pertinence is trying my patience. You will receive extra kitchen duties four times this week. Follow me and I will show you where you might learn to keep your Gift in check, if not your tongue as well." Lord HaMinch turned and walked swiftly through the halls. Selene followed closely, not wanting to get lost, but not wanting to listen to a word Lord HaMinch said.

_Kitchen dutie_s! She thought. _Fantastic, with all this extra bookwork how will I have time for that? I should keep my mouth shut… _Her face showed little emotion, not that she was inclined to show much emotion most of the time anyway.

They stopped in front of a dark wooden door with faded ruins on the inside of the doorway. Lord HaMinch knocked twice and pushed the door open. He motioned for Selene to go in and she squeezed past him.

"When the bell rings you will resume your normal classes." Lord HaMinch instructed her. He closed the door rather abruptly, as if he had better things to do then escort pages through the castle. Selene stuck her tongue out at the closed door. A tutting noise from behind her and she spun around.

**I had forgotten about sponsors and Selene's older half-brothers. It was a nice way to introduce some of my own characters even though it took forever to find all the fief names which by the way, all except Renvyle and Horganshold are mentioned by Mrs. Pierce. Renvyle is pronounced Ren- velle (**_**Ren**_** as in **_**Render)**_

**And now a quick message from our beloved characters:**

**Leo: Hi everyone! I'm Leo! We're so glad you're reading this story and we really hope you enjoy it! By now you know I'm Alanna's son but I'm the complete opposite of her. **

**Robyn: Yeah, she's not as much as a pest as you are.**

**Leo: Wahh, Selene, Robyn is being mean.**

**Selene: GET OFF OF ME!**

**Leo: Ahh! Does no one like me?**

**-Silence-**

**Leo: -cry-**

**Selene: Thanks a lot Leo we ran out of time! Ok, yea we're going to kick butt in the next chapter - Wait. Why am I telling you this! You should read it yourself! I'm out of here **


	4. Hidden Dragon

A tall, slender man stood by one of the windows. His silvery blonde hair grew down past his collarbone and was gleaming slightly from the feeble sunlight coming through from cloudy skies while his dark eyes were wide and inquisitive. His slender form was clothed in a dark green sleeveless tunic with silver embroidering. His shirt was a lighter green then his tunic and he wore pale grey breeches. He gave off an air of mischievous confidence, like that of one who obeyed his employers, but one who did things his own way when given the chance.

While his hair was almost a shade away from silver, his face was young and handsome. Slight lines at the corners of his mouth showed he laughed often. He had high cheekbones, a straight nose and skin so flawless it was like the skin of a marble statue. Altogether, Selene decided she liked this man.

"So you are to be my new pupil." he exclaimed, swinging his hands together. His clear voice carried easily through the room. "I understand you have quite a special Gift." Selene nodded. "I was rather surprised a fire mage had turned up. There are others who specialize in certain areas of magery but it's usually just battle, earth, water or even those with a bit of Wild Magic. Never in my travels have I come across a fire mage."

"Hurray hurray this makes me feel like less than a freak." Selene muttered sarcastically.

The man laughed. "I think I will enjoy teaching you. My name is Evan Tumortis. I am a specialized mage as well although I am a water mage."

Selene had to raise an eyebrow at this. "Really? A water mage? Fire and water are complete opposites. How you going to teach me?"

"I really have no idea," Evan had a thoughtful look on his face and started staring off up at the ceiling as if he could look through stone and see the occupants of the floor above him. Selene had no idea what to think of this. Hopefully Lord HaMinch had made a mistake and Numair was supposed to teach her.

She looked up back at Evan who looked deeply in thought, although Selene had absolutely no idea of what Evan would be thinking about.

"Excuse me?" Her words shook Evan out of his trance. "Am I actually going to learn something today?"

"Of course, of course!" Evan exclaimed. "It's just that I haven't had a pupil in so long, and such a young pupil that I don't know where to start. I was rather surprised when Numair was one of those darking creatures to contact me. He stressed that I was to hurry to the palace with all haste possible to teach a fire mage." He paused to clear his throat. "You see, it is every student of magic's dream that we discover an area of magery that little is known about, or at least discover something new about magic that no one has known before."

"Wait, wait," Selene put one hand on her hip. "So you're going to take responsibility for discovering my Gift so you can feel good about yourself?"

"No that's not the case." Evan grimaced and waved his hands in dismissal. "Elemental magery is an interest of mine. I'm simply fascinated when a human is granted control over one mighty element and is free to do whatever he or she may wish with their power. It is quite interesting to study the case of a mage who died from over usage. Each one has a unique reason that they would choose to go beyond their reach to achieve their goal." To Selene, it sounded like a morbid hobby. "Now I have another question."

It wasn't as if Selene could stop his questions. The man seemed like he'd talk forever if someone let him. "Ask away."

"Alright good, good. Are your eyes naturally like that? Is that part of your Gift?" Evans own pair were staring at her brilliantly orange ones.

"Yeah they are. My mother has blue eyes so I don't think I got them from her or her side of the family."

"What about your father?" Evan inquired.

"What about him?" Selene snapped.

Evan looked abashed. "It was merely a simple question. I was simply wondering -"

"I don't know who my father is." Selene looked down at the tips of shoes. "My mother married young at sixteen and by seventeen she already had a child. She was a notorious flirt in the court and there were always men attempting to get with her." She sighed. "The man she married was older then her by five years and they thought they would always be happy together. But my mother became bored with her husband after only three years together and apparently started flirting again with other men."

Evan listened quietly, knowing if he interrupted her, Selene would not have the heart to go on.

"Eventually it became more then flirting and she soon became pregnant with me. She knows who my father is but yet doesn't know his name." Selene looked gloomily out the window. "I'm the bastard child of Elaine of Renvyle. I don't know my father and I don't think I ever will." Selene crossed her arms and mentally kicked herself. Why had she told this stranger so much?

Evan looked down at his hands. He sighed deeply. "I believe you have a very complicated past."

Selene opened her mouth to say something but Evan waved his hand. "No, you don't have to explain yourself any more today. The taboo of a noble bastard child is permanently marked upon you forever and I understand the hardships and harassment you must receive." Selene looked away, out the window again and wished she could rinse off that terrible taboo in the rain.

"However I am not biased and I judge my students on their skill and dedication to their work rather than their lineage or family. You seem to me a hard-working honest girl who just was handed the wrong card of fate."

The ringing of bells startled both of them. Time had flown by so fast. Selene was hesitant as to what she should say to Evan. He was the most understanding adult she had met but yet it felt so awkward being reassured by this stranger.

Selene settled for a "Thank you for your time. I'll see you again tomorrow." and ran out the door. She raced through the hallways and BAM! ran straight into Alden's back. Alden spun around, disgust on his face. It twisted into a sick smile.

"Look who's come back to play." he mockingly. The other four squires from the night before were with him and no other boys were to be seen in this hallway.

Selene knew she was in trouble.

Alden grabbed her by the upper arms and stuck his nose in Selene's impassive face.

"So what are you going to do now, you little bitch," his breathe was hot and smelly. "Whose daddy are you going to hide behind now?"

A flurry of thoughts stormed through Selene's mind. She was still reeling from her confusion of having an unexpected confession to Evan . Now Alden had her cornered with all his minions; there was no easy way out. This made her decision so much easier. With a berserk battle cry, Selene brought up her knee between Alden's legs and shoved him hard in his stomach. Alden fell back, doubling over and holding his crotch. His wide-faced friend, Gordon, came forward and tried to throw a punch at Selene. She nimbly step-sided him and attempted her own weak punch. Gordon anticipated this and fainted to the left and caught her jaw with his fist. Selene stumbled back, stars dancing across her vision.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid_, she thought. _He may not look bright but he went through all his training and he's had practice._ Selene regretted the year she had spent in the convent as she gingerly rubbed her throbbing jaw, noting with grim happiness it wasn't broken. She knew only the theories of fighting, but when applied to real life, she lacked any body strength to deal any real damage. Gordon was coming closer, like a predator closing in on his prey.

"What's the matter?" Gordon taunted her. "Too afraid to fight alone?" he asked mockingly. Selene knew Gordon thought she was hesitating to fight, or too dazed from his punch. She also knew she had the element of surprise on her side. With little space between them, Selene rushed him and head butted Gordon much like Leo had done the previous night to Alden. Gordon grunted and landed on his backside.

Selene ignored him and turned to Alden who was by now recovered, his face red in seething anger.

"You really asked for it now," he threatened. "You don't know what you've started."

"No, I don't." she admitted. "But I do know my opponents are stumbling circus freaks who are total cowards and attack people in back hallways so they don't get caught."

Suddenly, Selene felt herself being picked up and was hefted sideways into the wall. It wasn't a hard fall but Selene lay on the floor slightly dazed yet again. She had forgotten about the other three squires. One of them must of come up from behind when she was too bust focusing on Alden. In her shifting vision, Selene saw a large figure stand over her and saw his foot swing back to kick her. Selene shut her eyes, waiting for the impact. It never came. There was, however, a squealing sound, a scratching sound of claws on the floor and a loud scream coming from the squire standing over Selene.

She sat up in time to see a large, coil of scales wrapped around the squire's right leg. Whatever the scaled thing was had sunk it's teeth into the boy's calf.

"Help, help!" he screamed. "Alden, Gordon get it off!" In the confusion, Alden grabbed Selene.

"Get it off of him, stupid bitch!" he yelled. "Stop your witchcraft and -"

Alden was cut off by a punch to his nose by Selene.

"If you haven't guessed already." she said, panting. "I don't take anyone's bullshit orders." Selene caught hold of Alden's tunic and dragged him up to his knees. She brought her fist back again and punched him square in the nose. Successfully breaking it caused Alden to scream in pain as blood flowed freely from his nostrils. Not pausing, Selene kicked him between the legs again and kicked him repeatedly in the stomach. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it back enough to make Alden scream even louder and made the other squires back up in horror. Selene relinquished her hold on the sobbing boy's tunic and turned to the other boys.

One of them still had what looked like a huge snake wrapped around his leg. Whatever it was it wasn't going to let go. Selene ignored that and stepped back. Now to deal with the other jackasses. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She heard Gordon try to rush her along with his friends. Opening her orange eyes when they were a few feet away, she held her hand forward and a burst of fire flashed through the air. The squires shrieked with fear. Selene grinned as they turned to ran away. She hadn't even conjured fire. It had just been an extremely hot wave of heat that gave the unfortunate victim the feeling of being burnt. Completely harmless.

A figure at the end of the hallway made the boys stop in their tracks, except Alden who was still on the floor bawling and the boy with the coiled snake on his leg was still hopping about. The figure came closer and Selene saw a young, pretty woman coming towards them. She had a slight figure, dark brown almost black smoky curls and stormy blue eyes. A firm, frowning mouth was set above a stubborn.

"Can anyone tell me the meaning of this?" Daine the Wildmage asked. "This palace is home to others. How dare you disrespect the dwelling of the king! Shame on -" She stopped short as her gaze landed on the blue thing still wrapped around the squire's leg.

"Kitten!" she snapped. "Not you too!" The blue thing uncoiled and Selene got a good look at it. It was a dragon!

"What is going on here?" Daine demanded. "You boys should know better as squires of the Realm."

"It wasn't our fault, with respect miss," said one boy with a rather handsome face and short dusty brown curls. "It was that girl over there. She started everything. She insulted us." Once again Selene felt all eyes land on her. Daine surveyed the scene.

"Is that what happened?" Daine asked, her voice softer than before. Selene didn't know whether to tell or not. If she did she'd get a beating from these boys that would make her attack on Alden seem like a walk in the park. If she didn't she could get thrown out for disruption, disrespect to her elders and for fighting. She was saved from answering when someone else answered behind her.

"Obviously these boys are lying," Evan said in his loud, clear voice. "Why would such a small page like her want to start a fight with five much older and larger squires who have an already standing reputation as trouble makers."

"Well I never said I believed them," Daine hurriedly said. "Wait, I thought you were in Tusaine until the end of fall?"

"Change of plans my dear. Once I learned you and Numair had a child I of course had to come down and meet my fellow classmate's family. Besides, I was brought here to teach this fine, young sprout." Evan walked up behind Selene and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"If I see any of you lay a hand on her I will personally stick this rod," Evan pulled out a three inch rod from midair. "I will stick this rod where the sunlight does not shine, and boy, you better believe it's going to be painful as hell." They gulped and looked taken back. "Also just to make things clear and not to make things complicated, I'm assigning you to three weeks each mucking out horse stables, two months of confinement to the castle, cleaning my classroom when needed, five extra hours of bookwork on the study of immortals, and if you say another word I will tell Lord HaMinch and that will not end well." He added the last bit as the dusty-brown-haired boy tried to protest.

"I am a teacher and yes, Thoralf of Fenrigh, I do have that power of punishment. NOW GO!" Evan bellowed. Three boys sprinted off, while Alden was stumbling around trying to get balanced and the other one was hobbling from Kitten's bite.

"You two!" Evan pointed two fingers at them. They recoiled in fear. "Mithros above I'm not going to eat you. I'm taking you to the infirmary." As Evan passed Selene he said in a low voice so she could only hear. "I will talk to you later about this." He sauntered off while practically dragging the two boys behind him.

Selene was left with Daine and Kitten in the hallway, was well as a splattering of blood on the floor from Alden's nosebleed. Kitten came up to Selene and rubbed her head affectionately on the pixie-like girl. Daine watched wide-eyed.

"Do you have the Gift?" she asked softly.

"Sort of, it's a special kind of Gift." Selene answered.

"What kind?" The Wild mage was curious.

"I'm a fire mage. I can control and conjure fire." Selene felt as if she would be explaining this to many people in the following days. Diane opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a loud rush of footsteps coming their way.

"This is where the noise came from!" they heard someone say. Raoul of Goldenlake and George of Pirate's Swoop thundered around the corner and stopped short in confusion.

"What was all the commotion about?" demanded Raoul in a booming voice. He looked to Selene, who stood next to the splatter of blood. "Aha! I spy!" He announced.

"No!" Daine wailed but Raoul had caught hold of Selene's wrists and held them above her head. Her orange eyes were wide with fear and she struggled against his hold then stopped.

Raoul examined Selene. "Well she has a page's uniform on, she's probably an imposter or spy."

"I'm not a spy!" Selene said angrily. "I'm a new page here!" Raoul's face took on an embarrassed look.

"What you have a problem with girl pages?" she retorted. Raoul opened his mouth but no sound came out.

"For Mithro's sake man, close your unsightly gap." Said George. For a moment, Raoul didn't do anything, but suddenly he swept up Selene into his arms and hugged her tightly. Selene gasped as the knight's muscular arms almost crushed her slender form. Daine and George looked on dumbfounded as the orange-eyed girl struggled to breathe.

"Alright that's enough, Raoul, wouldn't want to kill the poor girl on her first day." Daine cautioned as Raoul was spinning around the hallway with Selene in his arms. Raoul let go of Selene and she fell backwards. She was dizzy, and thought that this castle was full of too many strange and eccentric people.

"Now what was that for?" George asked. "Surely you're not showing favor to any particular pages already are you?"

Raoul looked out one of the windows sheepishly. "No, I'm just glad that, well, I'm just glad we don't have a spy here." He finished lamely. "Oh don't give me that look" he snapped to Diane who was giving him a knowing smile.

Selene looked on this strange scene. _I guess I didn't know exactly what I'd expect here but overall I think the people here really do get stranger and stranger. _A fleeting thought went through her head. _I wonder what the king is like. _

How the three adults had turned their attention to Selene.

"So how did you manage to get into a fight with a group of squires, get blood all over the hallway and make friends with Kitten within the same ten minute time period?" Daine asked.

"And please do explain that heat wave" George added. Selene sighed.

"First off, they started everything. I was at my lesson with Evan, I mean Master Tumortis, and as I left his classroom, I ran into them in the hallway on my way to the dining hall for lunch." _Which I've now apparently missed. _Selene added in her head. She could feel her stomach grumbling in annoyance.

"Hang on a minute, who's Evan Tumortis?" Raoul interrupted.

Even though Selene wasn't ashamed of her Gift, it was getting tiresome and uncomfortable to explain it to everyone who didn't know about it already. "He's my teacher in the Gift because I am a fire mage so they thought it'd be best to find a specialty teacher."

"Indeed I am quite the specialty teacher," Evan's lazy, clear voice came from behind them. They turned to watch him twirl on one foot and lightly skip over to them. Raoul raised an eyebrow.

"This poor dear doesn't quite fall into the same category as everyone else when it comes to her Gift. But not to worry we'll take care it won't we?" Evan came over to Selene and hugged her. He yelped in surprise as something bit him on the leg.

"Kitten!" Daine exclaimed as Evan was hopping up and down on his good leg.

**Selene: Actually, I like it now that the whole scene isn't divided up into a thousand freaking chapters. Well, if the author forgot to write about how I kicked Alden's butt I would have been seriously pissed.**

**Robyn: Hey! Wait a minute! I wasn't in this chapter at all!**

**Leo: We're at the training grounds remember? This chapter is all about Selene and her Gift.**

**Selene: Umm, didn't you get the memo? This whole story is about me. I seriously kick butt don't I?**

**Leo: Yes you sure do!**

**Robyn: No fair! I want to have a larger part.**

**Evan: I want a larger part too!**

**Robyn: You're like the second freaking main character here! And besides, who invited you?**

**Selene: Damn it! We ran out of time again!**

**Leo: I'm so sorry!**

**Selene: Just be quiet!**


	5. Training Ground Mischief

**Slightly disappointed by the lack of reviews but oh well, so far this has mostly been revision. Regardless, there are some people who do enjoy it and I will continue on for you.**

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Evan hopped up and down on his good leg, cursing the small blue dragon who had curled affectionately around Selene's feet.

"Damn beast!" he muttered. Kitten looked up at Evan and gave him a reproachful look. Daine was giggling oddly while George and Raoul were trying to hold in their laughter.

"I think Kitten has really taken a liking to you, Selene" Daine came over and scooped up Kitten.

"Sorry Evan I think you should go back to the infirmary now," George managed to sputter.

"If I'm not mistaken, shouldn't you be at the training grounds right now?" Daine addressed her question to Selene.

Selene wanted to pound her head against a wall. She had wasted so much time she was definitely late already. The thought of more chores after her normal day of classes was not a pleasing thought.

"If I run now, I might not get punished too harshly," Selene said hurriedly.

"Wait I'll take you," Raoul had now composed himself. George was still a hopeless laughing mess. "If I come with you, I'll see to it you get off lightly." Selene breathed a sigh of relief.

"But what about your class with me?" Evan inquired with a small pout. A silence followed.

"I just came from your class," Selene said slowly. "I ran into those bullies after we were finished."

"Oh right," A look of enlightenment appeared on Evan's face while Raoul and George traded a look that clearly showed what they thought of this strange, blonde man. Raoul took Selene by the elbow and walked down the corridor, leaving behind a confused Evan. They could hear George say "Well now, let's take this bloke to the infirmary shall we?" to Daine.

"You're awfully intent on me going to the infirmary aren't you?" Evan's voice carried down the hallway. Kitten gave a cat-like meow and wriggled out of Daine's arms, her talons scraping against the floors as she hurried to Selene's side. Daine looked as if she wanted to call Kitten back, but decided against it.

"Take care of her for now!" The Wildmage called and turned to back to helping George escort Evan to his office.

Selene looked down at Kitten who rubbed her head on the girl's leg. "How should I care for a dragon?" She asked Raoul incredulously.

Raoul chuckled. "I've never seen Kitten show so much attention to one person. I remember when I was a squire, Alanna had this black cat that had matching purple eyes that went everywhere with her. Maybe you have a new companion?" His eyes twinkled.

"Kitten is a dragon, not a little cat!" Selene exclaimed. Kitten sat up on her hind-legs and made an odd jumping motion.

"I think she might want to be picked up." Raoul offered a suggestion to Selene's confused stare. Uncertain as to how she should precede, Selene hefted up Kitten into her arms where the young dragon leaned her blue head against Selene's shoulder, closed her eyes and hummed softly in contentment.

"How am I supposed to explain this to HaMinch?" Today, nothing was going the way she imagined it to go and she couldn't decide if that was good or bad.

Raoul shrugged his massive shoulders and gestured at her to follow. "Don't worry about HaMinch. I'll be sure to explain things to him so that you won't have to rack up too many punishments. And by the way," he added. "If you promise to take care of Kitten here, I'll promise that I won't mention a word of your run-in with Alden to HaMinch. Deal?" Selene nodded vigorously, a motion that elicited a squawk from the dragon resting in her arms.

Selene hurried along, trying to keep pace with Raoul's large strides. Not for the first time, and probably not the last time, Selene wished she was bigger. At four foot nine inches she was painfully aware of how short she was compared to other boys. And Kitten was almost half her size!

They hurried along through bright hallways, sunlight playing along the tiles of the floor and glittering on any golden or shiny surface they passed. Selene's silver wristbands glinted in the beautiful daylight every time they passed a window and the silver hair streaking through Raoul's hair was extremely noticeable. After a while, Selene wondered how much further the training grounds were, and was awed at how big the castle was.

_Too damn big, _she thought. _Thank the gods Sir Raoul is here or I'd be a wandering, lost mess right now. _Selene also wondered how Robyn and Leo were doing in training practice. She grinned a mischievous smile. _Robyn is probably groaning and bossing people around and Leo is off crying in a corner somewhere. _She then dismissed the thought. They were her only friends here and it wouldn't do well to talk badly of them.

At the same time, Raoul looked down to see Selene grinning, and couldn't help himself wondering as to what was so funny at this moment. He let out a small sigh, unnoticed by the tiny black-haired girl and kept up a brisk pace to the training grounds. If she made it through the first week, let alone through the first year, it would be a miracle. Something sparkled in the corner of his eye and Raoul looked down, catching sight of Selene's wristbands. _The mystery deepens, _he thought. Raoul made a mental note to talk to Numair and the king later about Selene. They walked through a small patch of colored light, and Selene looked up to a large window of stained glass. It depicted the Great Mother Goddess holding the Dominion Jewel in front of her and banished foes lying on a bright red battlefield, obviously slain by the Goddess and her terrible power. Selene had a few moments to take in the brilliant sight before they turned the corner and walked through a doorway into the warm, late summer air.

"You will not stop until I tell you that you may stop!" Lord Padraig HaMinch practically screamed into Leo's face. The afternoon sun was beating down on the boys in the training yard and after a while, all the boys were sweating profusely and ready to drop. They faced another four grueling hours before they were dismissed and then had to run to dinner. Leo's bright red cheeks were a horrendous contrast to his brilliant copper colored hair. His bangs repeatedly dropped into his eyes and beads of sweat ran down the strands of hair to his eyes and all over his face. He was so tired already and it was hideously hot. And now HaMinch was screaming is his face. He wished desperately Selene was here with her smart remarks. At least it would provide brief if not comic relief.

HaMinch had first made them run laps, do push-ups, sit-ups and other small physical exercises. He believed, as he had yelled to the first year pages that they had neither the strength nor endurance to practice any of the "knightly" training and wouldn't let them touch, never mind practice, with any of the equipment.

"Yes sir," Leo answered. Right now, they were doing ladder runs. Start out at a white line, run ten yards, run back to the line. Then run twenty yards and run back to the white line and so on until they reached sixty yards. After reaching sixty yards and running back, they ran fifty yards, then forty and so on and so forth. That was only one cycle and HaMinch wouldn't let any of them rest until they had done at least six cycles and threatened to make them run more if they faltered.

HaMinch looked down on Leo, rubbed his beard and shouted "First years, thank your red-haired friend here. You'll be doing another two ladder runs after you finished the first six. Don't stop or I'll keep adding them. That is all." He turned and went back to standing against the wooden fence. Leo groaned and finished the fifty yard run of this third cycle. He ran back to the white line and started running for the sixty yard line. He caught up with a blond first year, the boy whose name he had forgotten.

"I'm so sorry," Leo apologized shamefully to the boy. He felt that he should apologize to someone.

"No worries mate," the blonde boy grinned. "It was bound to happen and soon other boys will be dropping. That was the whole point of this exercise," he huffed. "Old HaMinch knew someone would falter somewhere before the sixth ladder. Just have to take it all in stride." Leo was amazed by the boy's easy going nature and took an immediate liking to him.

"Less talking and more running," barked out Lord HaMinch. Leo resolved to ask the blonde boy's name later. Robyn himself was faring better then Leo and was running with another first year page, the one with the brown curls. Darren right? Or Dorian? Robyn couldn't remember his name. HaMinch had screamed to them earlier about their apparent laziness and noble soft asses unused to hard work. As Robyn turned to finish his third cycle, he saw Selene approaching the training fields, a huge, brown-haired man walking alongside of her and a coil of blue scales in her arms. His interest sparked and he slowed to a stop, along with the other pages. HaMinch took no notice as he stalked angrily over to Selene. Leo came panting up.

"Where was Selene this whole time?" Leo asked, gasping for breath. "And what's she got in her arms?" Robyn shrugged half-listening half-hoping to catch the conversation.

"You!" HaMinch shouted and pointed a finger at Selene.

"Yes me" Selene retorted.

"Don't get smart with me! You're up to your neck in trouble already!" he breathed deeply, possibly to control himself. "You're forty minutes late to training, on your first day and you're already on probation! Why on earth should I not expel you right here on the spot?" By now the whole training field had gone silent and was staring at Selene, a raging Lord HaMinch and the large and legendary Raoul, but mostly at Selene.

"Because I was so sick of your face already I couldn't stand to endure another afternoon with you," Selene muttered. HaMinch barely understood her, but caught the general meaning. Raoul had to hold him back as the boys looked on, having not heard Selene's remark.

"Let me explain everything to you," Raoul nervously laughed. "It's quite a funny story." He dragged the raging training master off away from the boys. Selene made her way to Robyn and Leo, the latter having his mouth wide open.

"I heard what you said to him," He said in awe. "That was amazing."

Robyn looked at him in astonishment. "How in the name of Mithros did you hear that? I couldn't even make it out."

"I reached out with my Gift and heard it." Leo said.

Robyn threw up his hands in exasperation. "Does everyone have super amazing magical gifts except me?" he turned to Selene in all seriousness. "No, but really, where were you? We were getting worried that you ran into Alden and his cronies." His eyes widened in shock. "Is that…is that Daine's dragon you're carrying?"

The two other pages looked at them oddly.

"Do you three know each other?" asked the blonde-haired boy who Leo had talked to.

"No I'm just randomly being stalked by these two," Selene answered sarcastically.

Just then, two of Alden's cronies came running up the training ground. They saw Selene and gave her the evil eye. Selene took two hurried, menacing steps in their direction and they backed off to the other squires, frightened.

"That's two of the boys who attacked me," Selene explained to Robyn. And to Leo, who was hugging her arm and it didn't seem as if he would let go anytime soon. "I broke Alden's nose and another boy got bit in the leg by Daine's dragon, Kitten." The two other pages were staring at her, as if she had single-handedly defeated a forest troll. HaMinch saw the two returning squires trying to escape his attention. Ignoring Raoul, Lord HaMinch came towards them dangerously. The two squires knew they were in trouble with no escape and seemed to submit themselves to HaMinch's rage.

"It seems the Training Master is in a dilemma," the blonde page said. Liam, that was his name, Robyn remembered. Liam grinned. "Who to punish first? The probationary page or the two squires who look as if they're coming from a tavern brawl?"

Selene rolled her eyes at 'probationary page' but reserved judgment for later. "Either way I'm going to be in some form of trouble," she said. "Even if Raoul somehow managed to convince HaMinch that it wasn't my fault for coming late to training, he's still going to have to punish me, just to make an example. And if those two rat me out, then I'm going to be in even worse trouble."

"Did you really beat those two up?" The small boy, Dorian, asked her timidly. Selene turned to him.

"Yes I did." Dorian only looked at her with wondrous eyes, totally impressed by her.

"Hang on a moment! Why do you have a dragon with you?" Robyn asked again now with impatience. "Am I hallucinating? Leo, does Selene really have a dragon?" Leo, as bashful as he was, couldn't come up with an answer before Liam interjected.

"Looks like he's coming back," Liam warned. All the first year pages hastily began their exercise, leaving Selene to face HaMinch's wrath alone.

In the end, it wasn't as bad as she had expected. Raoul had apparently spun a wild story of how her class with Evan had ended a tad later than expected and on her way to the mess hall, Kitten had sprung up on her, drawn to her Gift and Daine had gotten involved. By unexplained reasons, George and Raoul had gotten involved and Raoul had chosen to escort her to the training grounds. And Kitten decided to come along.

Or so the story went. Selene was sure that HaMinch wasn't entirely convinced of the plausibility of the story but he could not, and would not question Sir Raoul over it. So he took out his anger on her. Selene remained mute and tight-lipped through HaMinch's lecture, a rather rare occurrence for her. When he was done, he told her to join the other pages and report to his office after dinner to receive her punishment.

"Sir," HaMinch had been about to turn away when she called out to him. "What I am to do with…Skysong?" Selene used the dragon's formal name, deciding that using the word 'Kitten' in front of the Training Master seemed a tad ridiculous. He looked at Kitten lounging lazily in Selene's arms, the dragon's tail swaying back and forth idly. For the first time in many years, Lord HaMinch was at a loss for words.

"I don't know!" HaMinch finally barked. "You decided to drag an Immortal down here, you should have some idea!" He stalked away to verbally abuse some of the squires who had knocked over the jousting dummy.

"Huh," Selene said. "He should really get that stick out of his butt."

"Agreed." Robyn had come up to her, now that the coast was clear. The other first-years trailed up behind him. "Now are you actually going to explain to me _why _you have a dragon?"

Selene sighed. This was turning out to be a long day.

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**Yay for Kitten! I hope that whoever reads this story really likes it. I'm hoping to get to the next part of the story so I'm updating kind of fast. Which is good, right? :) Review please and you'll make my day.**


	6. Challenges and Favors

After the shouting episode with HaMinch, Kitten was resolved to wait on one of the wooden posts around the training grounds. She sat, perched on her roost as if she was a regal queen over-looking her subjects. Her scales were a calm blue and her eyes seemed to absorb every movement of the boys and the instructors, every miniscule maneuver, each slight shifting of a body did not go unnoticed by the small dragon. Many people had looked at her with a combination of fear admiration and curiosity, completely understandable seeing as many of them had never seen a dragon up close before.

Although Sven had told her that she was too out of shape to stay in pace with her year-mates, Selene had not taken him seriously. She had thought, with a touch of arrogance that she could simply call upon her Gift of fire for energy to keep up with the other boys. And so she had, but all the effort she put into drawing out her Gift exhausted her at a faster pace, leaving her unable to concentrate fully on the tasks she was put though. They had finished the running exercises and HaMinch ordered them to take up a wooden staff each and he paired them off with an older page. Selene had sweat dripping from her brow and her sodden braid was sticking to the back of her neck. Her trembling hands had closed around the staff and wondered with exhaustion how much more of this she could endure. She was beyond the weariness that she could describe in words.

She held her staff like the older boy had shown her, hands slightly apart, held perpendicular in front of her body. The boy, Gabriel of Meron who was Leo's sponsor, showed little emotion as he demonstrated the defensive positions to Selene. He seemed neither to favor her nor hate her.

For the first half of the exercise, he attacked her while she fended off his forwarding attacks with her wooden staff. Sometimes she blocked them, but more often than not Gabriel managed to land a blow on her side, thigh or her forearms. HaMinch yelled at her for her effrontery and sloppy work, putting Selene into a worse mood than before. Finally, it was her turn to be on the offensive. Gabriel blocked all her attacks with ease, just another thing that further irritated Selene. She swung her staff in an overhead blow, one that would have split Gabriel's skull in two had she more strength in her arms. The older page blocked it of course but the sudden movement of having to stop the strike put him off balance for heart-stopping moment.

Seeing an opportunity, Selene gripped her staff tighter and swung it towards Gabriel's side, just as he done so many times before. She was incredibly lucky: she managed to hit Gabriel on his upper thigh. She couldn't help but notice how the boy's lips pressed firmly in a line together and couldn't miss the infuriating glint in his eyes. Afterwards, he rained down blow after striking blow. Being a novice she managed to block some of them but the majority of Gabriel's attacks landed on her body. Just when she thought her arms would fall off, HaMinch ordered them over to the archery range.

The trainer, Lord Yajsaik, was a tall man, with a lean muscular build. His face was all sharp angles and his skin was tanned and weathered from years of being outdoors. His dark brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, grey hair showing at his temples. Selene gulped as she observed the imposing man, not quite knowing what to expect from him. She was handed a small unstrung bow and was shown how to string it and properly draw it. She had not known that she would need wrist guards for archery and the string thudded against her wrists and forearms, her shirt sleeves a feeble protection from the harsh twine. Selene found that her short-coming in archery did not go unnoticed by the instructor as he came over to help her.

Unlike their other instructors, Lord Yajsaik was more apt to think before yelling out and was calmer and more patient. He was also quicker to helpfully correct a mistake than berate you for it. He had come from Sarain and was an old friend of Thayet's. He had escaped from the corrupted and murderous society to Tortall and Thayet had greeted him happily, as he had been a family ally. He recently took up the position of archery trainer and the boys adored him. Lord Yajsaik showed her, with gentle hands, how to properly pull back the bowstring and how to hold the arrow to the string. Afterwards, Selene didn't feel as if the lesson had been a complete failure.

When Lord Yajsaik had moved onto the next boy, Selene sighed in relief and nearly dropped her bow. Her fingers felt as if the skin had been peeled straight from the muscle and bone. She wanted to cry out when she got a good look at them for the first time after an hour of archery. They were bruised and bloody; her soft skin had never under gone such treatment before.

Leo saw her looking down at her red fingertips. He could immediately guess at the cause of Selene's distress. He glanced around and seeing no one paying particular attention to them, he came over to Selene, who in turn picked up her bow as if nothing was wrong.

Leo took up position next to her and loosed an arrow, hitting the top part of target.

"That wasn't that great." He said rather glumly.

"At least you can hit something." Selene had successfully shot three arrows, all of them landing mere yards away from her.

"It would help, you know," Leo coughed rather nervously. "I know Robyn may have made it seem like I don't have any skill with the Gift, but I'm a pretty good at small healings." Selene looked at her fingers.

"It's not that bad…" She trailed off.

"Just in case you accidently ever cut yourself on a blade or tear a muscle," Leo offered in a meek voice.

"Oh for Mithros sake! Get it over with!" Selene held out her hands to Leo, palms up. She didn't look at him, instead drawing her gaze up to the fluffy white clouds in the sky. A moment later, she felt an itching, crawling and tingling feeling all at once overwhelm her hands. It didn't hurt but was entirely unpleasant.

She inspected Leo's handiwork. Her fingertips were smooth and healed with no indication that there had been anything wrong a minute earlier. Selene looked at Leo again, his violet eyes wide and shining.

Unfortunately, there was no time for thanks as Lord Yajsaik clapped his hands and declared it time for the boys to choose their mounts for their riding practice. At the beginning of the instruction season, the end of summer, each boy was required to choose a horse. Returning pages usually ended up with the horses they had chosen the year before while the first-years had pickings from the boys who had gone onto being squires. Selene wanted to get to the stables before all the good mounts had been taken. She summoned another bout of energy from her Gift, against her better judgment, to aid her in jogging to the stables. Unfortunately, someone had a mind to stop her.

Selene only got a few paces to her destination when suddenly a wooden practice staff was thrust under her feet. She tripped and fell sprawling into the dust. Coughing up dirt and grimacing from her aching arms, she looked up to see two of Alden's friends, the same two that HaMinch had yelled at before.

"Did you honestly think you'd get off so lightly?" One of them sneered. He could have been described as handsome with his golden blonde hair and refined aristocratic looks. However the look of disgust etched on his face currently hid his attributes. Selene stood back on her feet. She knew that she still did not look like much of a threat.

"Compared to you two?" Selene replied, trying to control her shaking voice. If only she wasn't so damn tired she could properly deal with these clowns. "Yes, I did get off lightly. I only got shouted at for maybe all of one minute. I do recall that you had to enjoy a five minute lecture in front of all the whole training ground." She was pleased with the sudden blush that spread on both their cheeks.

"I don't know why you do this to yourself." The other bully now was speaking. "Girls don't belong here. Especially not little things like you. Go back to the convent and keep knitting socks, before we make you go."

"I won't let myself be scared off by the likes of you!" Selene said angrily. She clutched at her pants tightly, her hands practically itching to throw a small fire bolt at them. Nothing too damaging of course.

The first speaker, the boy with the golden hair, stepped closer to her, diminishing the space between them. "If you don't clear out by the end of this week, you'll get much more than a warning."

"Will I get a box of chocolates instead?" Selene couldn't help but retorting sarcastically. "I love chocolates."

"Probationary!" This was HaMinch now, once again shouting. "Get your sorry behind over here!"

Selene ran to the stables without a second glance at the boys. Although she had put on an air of indifference, she knew that the boys could easily thrash her with no effort. She would have to show more caution in the future if she was to survive here.

Her horse of choice was the smallest in the stable; that was probably why it had been mostly ignored by the boys, for who would want a small mount when there were bigger and more noble beasts to choose from? The horse was a straw-berry roan colored mare who was spirited and even-tempered. As it was a new horse, it was her decision to name it. Selene settled on Mystique, a name taken from her favorite heroine from a book she had read in the convent.

She saddled her horse and led it out into the paddock. Until today, Selene had never ridden astride, a feat that looked more difficult than she had originally thought. First, she had trouble getting her foot into the damned stirrup. Once she had managed to balance herself, she grabbed the top of the saddle and attempted to pull herself up.

A boy, Mikhail of Wellam, snickered to his friends as Selene struggled into the saddle. With an evil grin he tossed a piece of rope in front of Mystique. The horse mistook it as a snake and reared with a wild neigh. Selene was thrown from the saddle and once again found herself sprawled in the dirt. There were hoots of laughter surrounding her, all of them aimed at her. She had landed on her back and had the wind knocked out of her. She was gasping for breath when she heard Robyn speak.

"Hey you ass!" Robyn directed his insult at Mikhail who was accepting praise from his friends. Mikhail was stopped cold and turned slowly in his saddle to face Robyn.

"What did you just say to me?" He asked coldly. Selene had almost regained control of her breathing.

"That was low!" Robyn went on to say. "She could have been trampled!"

"Know your place, first-year!" Mikhail growled. He dismounted his horse and approached Robyn. Robyn only shifted his feet but stood his ground against the on-coming threat.

"No you fool!" One of Mikhail's friends grabbed his tunic. "He's the Prince. We'll get more than just stable mucking if you lay a finger on him." He hissed. Mikhail stopped short. It was easy to see that this was a boy who often got his way with no interference.

"I don't care." He announced finally after a pause. Selene took a few gasping breaths, finally able to breath once again. "You know the Code of Chivalry: it's within my right to seek retribution if I have been insulted."

Right on queue, HaMinch spotted them. "Must I spend my entire career watching over you like a mother hen?" The red shade of his face was quite indeed impressive, Selene admitted. "I turn my back for two seconds and every time someone has started something or suddenly the rules don't matter! It is disgraceful to even think of any of you becoming a knight." There was only a few scuffling of feet as HaMinch bellowed out at the assembled pages. "You will all mount up and if I hear any word of complaint or see anyone lazing around by the Divine Gods I will have you all flogged!" The rest of the riding lesson was passed in relative silence, HaMinch throwing the occasional insult towards Selene who struggled not to lose her balance and fall out of her saddle.

She considered it a miracle that she only collapsed onto the floor once she was safe and sound in her room, the bathtub full of warm soapy water suddenly becoming the most beautiful thing she had seen in her life.

* * *

"So how was your first day?" Sven asked her.

"How was it?" Selene repeated incredulously. "It was a nightmare! I've never been so thoroughly exhausted in my life and now I have to deal with this!" She gestured broadly at the small pile of books and paper sitting next to her, her bookwork due the next morning.

She had no patience to do any of it. Her shoulders ached, her forearms burned, her legs had started to cramp up and her back felt as if a giant had sat on her. A headache had sprung up after she changed for dinner and had only worsened as the evening wore on. In all honesty, Selene herself could not come to believe that she would last a whole week. She tossed a book to the opposite side of her room.

Kitten looked up with her silted-cat eyes. Kitten's alien intelligence unnerved Selene to a small degree. The dragon had followed her all afternoon and had even followed her to the noble's dining hall where Selene had to wait on tables. Kitten had opted to lay down behind a tapestry that evening when Selene was carrying out her duties. After Selene had eaten, the small fire-mage could not muster up the strength to carry Kitten in her arms and the dragon was forced to waddle behind Selene to the page's wing.

Sven had found his younger sister lying face down in bed when he came to her room that evening to work on their bookwork. He simply had hauled her into a sitting position and cheerfully deposited her books into her lap, all the while ignoring her murderous glare.

Now, the siblings had settled in once again, Selene too tired to really argue or complain about her situation. Scholarly learning was well under way when Sven suddenly said, "You know, you really held up well today. I thought Mithros himself might have blessed you with his strength."

Selene scratched out her last sentence she had written. "I nearly died of exhaustion today."

"You look perfectly healthy to me."

With the back of her hands, Selene rubbed her eyes, trying desperately not to fall asleep where she was. "I feel as if I had lost a fight with an elephant. I ache all over. How is anyone supposed to deal with this sort of brutal treatment?"

"Knights have to prove their worth," Sven explained calmly. "Training is meant to weed out the weaklings. You're just not used to it because you – "

"Spent a year locked up in a convent and have been brought up as a lady by whole life." Selene sighed. "It really won't be a valid excuse if I don't improve soon."

Whatever encouraging words Sven might have to say were interrupted by a knock at Selene's door. She and Sven exchanged dubious looks.

"Come in," She called. She nearly broke into a smile when Leo poked his head into her room.

"Hi Selene," he said in a small voice. "Do you mind if I come in?"

The door was pushed wide open by Robyn, who stood right behind Leo. "What do you mean just you? It was my idea to come in the first place! You thought Selene didn't like us anymore!"

"I never said that!"

"You certainly implied it."

"You're mean, Robyn."

"It hurts me that you could judge me in that way."

"Nothing really hurts you anyway."

"Stop!" Selene exclaimed in exasperation. "Did you come all the way to my room to argue in front of me? I have a splitting headache. I don't want to listen to it." Sven only rolled his eyes. His sister was as blunt and short-tempered as always.

"Can we study here?" Leo asked quickly. "I'll promise I'll be quiet."

"Can you do arithmetic?" Selene inquired.

"I can!" Robyn came over and sat next to her.

"I asked Leo, not you."

"Well we both can help you!' Robyn said brightly. "Come on Leo, I'm sure the three of us can figure it out. The four of us I mean." He added as he glanced at Sven, looking for a reaction from the older boy.

Sven waved a hand. "Continue on young first-years. Don't feel threatened by me. Unless of course you make Selene mad but by then I'm sure she will have dealt with the situation better than I could have."

The rest of the evening was spent in cheerful, helpful companionship and in Selene's case, pain. Leo and Robyn were somewhat in awe of Sven, although Selene couldn't figure out what for. Sven wasn't even intimidating. Perhaps he was a little bit on the tall side but that fact remained that he was only two years older than them. Just when Selene started dozing off at her desk, the last bell of the day rang, finally giving the all clear to go to bed.

Sven yawned obnoxiously which earned him a rather annoyed glare from Kitten who sprawled across the foot of Selene's bed. The boys gathered their papers, some of them finished and some not, and said their good-nights. Robyn just happened to be the last one of the room and Selene could not stop herself.

"Hey Robyn," The Prince turned at the sound of his name. Selene stood in the doorway, her silhouette outlined from the light in her room. "Umm, thank you." She said uncertainly.

"For what?" Robyn asked.

Indeed for what, Selene thought to herself. "For saying what you did to Mikhail."

Robyn grinned a mischievous grin. "I guess this means you owe me a favor."

"Hpmh," was Selene's answer. "Good-night, Your Highness." There was no way Robyn could miss the sarcasm layered honorific. Selene slammed the door shut, putting an abrupt end to further conversation.

* * *

**I apologize for the three week lapse in updating. With trying to settle things for college and studying for the first series of final exams, I was running around totally on edge and completely stressed out. And since I'm aiming for quality work in this story I thought it'd be best to wait until I had something written that actually contributed something to the story rather than just filler. **

**One interesting thing (although maybe not quite as interesting to some readers; well it does add an interesting element to the story I suppose…) is that Selene has had no training what so ever. She was brought up to be a lady and she's learning everything for the first time so of course she's going to encounter tons of difficulty. I never demonstrated her initial lack of skill or knowledge and made it seem like she had a natural knack for everything. That's hardly realistic.**

**Review please and make my day? I'd be happy to hear constructive criticism or anything you find wrong so far. Next update will be sooner, promise!**


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